Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is the actor who played Apollo Creed in the films Rocky, Rocky II, III and IV. Carl, who also played professional football with the NFL's Oakland Raiders, by whom he was drafted in 1970, embarked on his Hollywood film acting career at the time of his retirement from the NFL in 1975. He also played the part of Dillon in Predator opposite Arnold Schwarzenagger, former golf pro Chubbs Peterson in Happy Gilmore opposite comedian/actor Adam Sandler, with whom he also appeared in Little Nicky, and an exaggeratedly frugal fictionalized version of himself in the FOX television series Arrested Development.

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Carl got his first parts in two blaxploitation films directed by his longtime friend Arthur Marks: Bucktown and Friday Foster both released in 1975. Weathers also appeared in an episode of the 1970s CBS-TV sitcom Good Times entitled "The Nude", portraying an angry husband who suspected his wife of cheating on him with J.J. [1]

In 1976, Carl auditioned for and was selected for the part of, and starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in the Robert Chartoff-Irwin Winkler film Rocky as Apollo Creed, a role he would reprise in the next three Rocky films in 1979, 1982 and 1985. For the final film in the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, Stallone asked Weathers, Mr. T, and Dolph Lundgren for permission to use footage from their appearances in the earlier Rocky movies. Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren acquiesced, but Weathers wanted an actual part in the movie, even though his character died in Rocky IV. Stallone refused and Weathers decided not to allow Stallone to use his image for Rocky flashbacks from the previous movies. They instead used footage of a fighter who looks similar to Weathers.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana,[2] Carl graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, California, in 1966 and then went to Long Beach City College and then San Diego State University, where he was a standout linebacker, becoming a letterman on its football squad in 1968 and 1969, his junior and senior seasons. At LBCC, he did not play in 1966 due to an ankle injury suffered when he tripped over a curb surrounding the running track while warming up for practice with another linebacker, Paul Snow before transferring to San Diego State. Outside of acting, Carl is a member of both Big Brothers and the U.S. Olympic Committee. In February 1973 he married Mary Ann Castle with whom he has two children. They were divorced in July 1983. In February 1984 he married Rhona Unsell. He married Jennifer Peterson, his third wife, in 2007. They divorced in 2009.